MM6 Maison Margiela x Eastpak Fall/Winter 2021 Collab Bags

Put MM6 Maison Margiela's Eastpak Down, Flip It & Reverse It

2 years ago in StyleWords By Alexandra Pauly

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MM6 Maison Margiela

MM6 Maison Margiela and Eastpak aren't afraid to — in the words of Missy Elliot — put that "thang down, flip it and reverse it." The Maison Margiela imprint and backpack purveyor have just dropped a series of reversible accessories, first unveiled on the MM6 FW21 runway in February.

Eastpak's classic Pak'r backpack is updated with removable shoulder straps, allowing the entire apparatus to turn inside-out, revealing a new colorway. Pushing the concept even further, the Pak'r is also retooled with shoulder straps on the front and back, rendering our notions of backwards and forwards entirely moot.

One more iteration of the Pak'r is playfully shrunken down into a mini shoulder bag, a playful subversion of the backpack's intended method of wear. Rounding out the range, Margiela's signature Japanese bag — an origami-inspired tote — is also updated in Eastpak canvas and accented with inside-out tags.

Continuing the ongoing partnership between MM6 and Eastpack, this drop follows on from an equally playful range of accessories that released as part of the label's Spring/Summer 2022 collection. Presented at Milan Fashion Week, the house showed some amusingly meta accessories printed with images of backpacks for that season.

This is the latest of Eastpak's high fashion collaborations, something that the label has become well-versed in. In 2019, Raf Simons teamed up with the brand to drop a series of tote bags and fanny packs paying homage to London's punk scene and for the 40th anniversary of the Pak'r, Eastpak recruited six Japanese brands — including AMBUSH and UNDERCOVER — to rework the utilitarian essential.

With Eastpak, MM6 Maison Margiela turns the humble backpack into a conceptual statement piece. As usual, the French fashion house forces us to look at things from a new perspective — albeit a topsy-turvy one.